


dewlight hall

by azureforest



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Alternate Universe - The First, Ballroom Dancing, Childhood Friends, Fluff, Forbidden Love, Longing, M/M, Trans Male Character, its really just the castes and oaths of loyalty lmao, knight and lordling flavored, lost in the grand cosmos sauce, the first - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-21
Updated: 2020-03-21
Packaged: 2021-03-01 05:21:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23249881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/azureforest/pseuds/azureforest
Summary: close your eyes and think about it- two ghosts dancing together in a garden of ages past, laughing softly in the moonlight.(or, if you'd prefer: a tale of a knight and a liege who isn't his, but whose he desperately wishes to be.)
Relationships: Adelphel de Chevraudan/Janlenoux de Courcillant, Ser Javyth/Adelphel's Shard on the First
Comments: 3
Kudos: 15





	dewlight hall

**Author's Note:**

> this is so niche that id just like to say that i [strumming guitar] [crying] [guitar string snaps and kills me instantly]
> 
> in other words, leo back at it again with making things out of nothing! please enjoy

Footsteps echo through the moonlit halls, light streaming through the windows in gentle blues and whites, the dew waiting just beyond, holding its breath. The hall is silent, castle devoid of its earlier festivities- The marble polished, clicking under heels as a lone knight wanders. A patrol, he’d claim. His nightly rounds as usual, just along a more scenic route at an unholy, early hour. With the dance the evening prior, no precaution would be too great.

The truth is that Javyth is simply restless. The day’s memories continue to echo through his head like rippling water, stirring his mind into a constant brook of thought, rushing past without regard- It had been a good two bells of tossing and turning and tracing the grooves in his headboard with his thumb until he could no longer bear the insomnia. His steps click ever on, the light armor he’d donned in favor of his usual mail making precious little sound. The double doors creak as he pushes them open, but don’t squeal- Javyth winces at the sudden noise regardless, a hand straying to his shortsword.

Predictably, nothing happens. Fingers tapping easily on the pommel of the blade, Javyth peeks into the ballroom, then enters- Bustling a scant few bells ago, now empty and impressively clean. The moonlight reflects off the floor, here, a shade of a reflection in the white tiles where the elven knight treads. The air is fresh, windows recently thrown open to let in the cool breeze, space wide and empty where the tables and chairs had been swept off to the sidelines to allow for easier maintenance.

It’s blessedly quiet. Javyth stops to bask in the light of a window and simply lets himself _be_. Lets the night seep through his skin, into his bones, starlight cooling his throat and dripping from the ends of raven locks. A sigh stirs the air as he shakes his head to clear it of phantom footsteps, of shades of eyes that follow and chase. There is nothing but the night, the night- No partygoers, no knights stationed as precaution, no servants, no nobles tittering away.

He was in this room, too. Deep plum gemstones to compliment his eyes, clad in finery, long hair tied and pinned back. He ghosted about in the hours the ball was in full swing, the titter of chatter filling the space with laughter and life. The one-two-three thrummed in his heartbeat though he’d never been much of a dancer, the violins singing high and sweet over the voices like songbirds in dawn’s waking hours. He remembers- Warm hands in his, cheeks rosy from drink or something other. A vision of spring, eyes shimmering like the Source, framed by pink blossoms. The young lord took his hands despite his protests, pulled him away from the rabble, guided him through steps only half-known to him, laughed even when he stumbled in a show most undignified for one of the king’s most accomplished knights. _Nothing a brief lesson wouldn’t fix_ , one joked, _I’d need an eternity to learn_ , laughed the other.

Not in the ballroom, of course- In the castle courtyards, far from the searching eyes of the lord’s father, far from the sights of the knight’s fellows and liege. Just the two of them in the waning light, dazzling in its tenderness. Javyth almost- No, he does, he regrets having worn gloves, no matter how splendid the embroidery, how soft the satin; But he felt the other’s warmth all the same, even through the fabric, settling into his palms to stay. Settling deep into his bones, just like the pressure he’d felt, feather-light on the small of his back.

 _I am no lady to woo,_ Javyth recalls saying. _Never_ , the lord said back, _but may I ask you to be my knight to adore?_

The knight hesitated. They both knew what the answer cannot be- A resounding _yes_ , a loving _ever and always-_ The thought is almost treasonous in nature, knowing the oaths of a bow meant to protect Lakeland, the places they’d both come from to get to this point. Yet this is no battlefield. This truth, spoken while hidden away, would not cost him his life. But damn him if it hadn't already cost his heart tenfold: For Adalwyn was a picture book prince made manifest in the low light, just five paces to the side; Perfect hair gently disheveled, collar slightly crooked, cheeks reddened even in the encroaching night. The evening breeze was warm, rustling the trees in the grand garden when it reached out in a gentle caress- No doubt Ser Intheran was out there, doing his customary rounds, nor was there any doubt that Grymme was in the thick of the festivities with Phinibert, keeping an eye out as much as he was getting pulled along with the flow of people, dancing, laughing, chatting. The night was so loud, so alive, yet the world closed them in in warm hands, narrowed to naught but their two shivering pulses, cricket-chorus around, the din of the ball behind.

Perhaps it was in that delirious moment- No, his mind was as clear as ever- That the knight and his lord found their truths.

 _My blade has ever been yours,_ Javyth said, _for yours is the first oath I swore._

Adalwyn giggled at that, still swaying to the faint music trickling through the windows of the Grand Cosmos. _We’re too old to play pretend._

Indeed, they’d been children when that oath was first spoken, toy swords in their hands, the elbows of Adalwyn’s bliaud dirtied, the muddied hems of Javyth’s dress sticking to his ankles. Even then, a prince and a knight, even then, dancing in gardens. Their voices, high and sweet, chanting rhymes and songs, laughter ringing like bells. Yet time nor its inexorable flow did anything to blot out the memory- The moment when Javyth had kneeled in the dirt of the flowerbeds and lowered his voice as far as it would go, when Adalwyn had taken the stick in his hand, tapped each of Javyth’s shoulders and bid him rise. Son of a lord, child of a servant- Naught mattered then. They wished it wouldn’t matter now. Oh, what they wouldn’t have given to feel the marble floor under their feet. What they wouldn’t have given to simply not care for the repercussions, not care for the gazes that would follow them. What they wouldn’t have given for so many things- But it’s all the more reason to hold close what they had now. _And you should know better than to seek answers you already know._ Javyth replied.

A moment passed in memory, a flicker in Adalwyn's eyes like midsummer fireflies, petals from flowering branches in a brisk wind. _Fool,_ his lord for the night laughed. _Foolish of you to think I ever will._

 _My lord,_ the knight sighed. Chiding in nature, and yet unfathomably fond.

 _My knight_ , Adalwyn echoed, and for the sake of the other’s pride, Javyth pretended he did not hear his voice crack. _May I?_

 _Ever and always._ Gloved hands threaded into his updo, pulled out the pins, let raven locks fall about Javyth’s face in waves of dark, into the fading light. His lord looked into his face for a long, long moment, brows furrowed, cupping his cheek.

They did not speak of the way their eyes darted about- Did not speak of how they both strained their ears before looking back at each other with twin, boyish grins, like children making sure noone had seen them taking the cookies from the pantry, sneaking out after hours, pulling off the perfect heist. Javyth asked, then, foolishly, of second thoughts- His lord smiled one of those wry, wry smiles in return. _Never, ever. Would you fault a man for wanting to remember?_

Distantly, the song changed. Adalwyn’s thumb traced a path from Javyth’s cheekbone to the corner of his mouth. He pressed a single kiss to it, a clandestine, stolen thing, and delighted in the quiet huff of a laugh Javyth let out as he knocked their heads together. The meaning was in the shine of his eyes, the curl of his lips; If Adalwyn’s hands were shaking, they paid it no mind. This was their sacred secret to hold, their secret garden, blossoming wildly in their hearts, left for only the butterflies to claim- Fluttering as their pulses at their throats, caged in their ribs, longing tenderly in shimmering shades of morpho-blue.

How they wanted. How deeply, how terribly. Gloved hands fisted in the fabric of formal jackets, holding, waiting, praying. It would never be, it could never be, not under oath, not under obligation and duty. Still. Still, the promise, the promise in the act, the quiet, silent hope sealed in between- It would withstand rifts, gales, terrible storms, they knew, until the day it could blossom to life. Even if it were in the next life, or the one after that. But likely not in this. A lord of the court, a knight pledged to the king. Only under cover of night, only hidden away by lengthening shadows- Only then would they be able to remain like this, oh only, only. Javyth’s shoulders shook, laughing at the hopeless tragedy of it, and Adalwyn followed in wake of the thought, the melodic sound.

They stayed like that, laughing at how cowardly they were, until the song ended. And then they danced, for the next and the next, until the final song rang out. Finally, they let the night go- Hands still shaking, smiles turning rueful.  
  


Javyth stares up at the ceiling of the ballroom as the memory can offer no more. The night is deep, and in the end, he is alone- Alone in this moonlit hall, far too large for one. It would still be too large for two, but that wouldn’t matter then; Because it would just be the two of them, dancing on and on, until the walls crumble, until nature comes to reclaim them with no eyes to watch, no minds to judge. The ivy of their verdant hearts climbing up the crumbling stone, breaking it down so their blossoms may bloom, finally free-

Just a knight and his only liege. A liege and his only knight. Two spectres to the beats of their hearts, dancing in the moonlight, on and on and on. An eternity to learn the steps, alone together in this dewlight hall.

Javyth closes his eyes, and hums a gentle tune, fingers tapping on the pommel of his blade. But if they could dance just a little longer in that eternity- Perhaps then, he thinks, a little practice is due on this sleepless night.


End file.
